Thursday, April 30, 2015

Philippians 3:17 - On egotism and emulation...

"Be coming to be co-imitators of me, brothers, and be watching the [ones] thus walking just as you are having our imprint."

-Egotism is not certainly not something to be emulated, but Paul is not guilty of that here as he exhorts the Philippians to imitate him.  He actually does this elsewhere and for others as well (Philippians 4.9, 1Corinthians 4.16, 1Corinthians 11.1, 2Thessalonians 3.9), but by all accounts we are looking at someone who had lived his life with integrity and a clean conscience to the best of his ability with the hand he’d been dealt (Acts 23.1, Acts 24.16, 2Corinthians 1.12, 2Timothy 1.3).  He knew that his was a good example.  But he’s not feeling superior - in fact, he clearly states that there are also others who can also serve as examples for these believers to observe and imitate.  He says to be constantly watching them, observing them closely, paying attention to them, to what they do, to what they think and say, to their values which play out in their lives and to how they live out their devotion to Jesus.  The fact is that leaders lead and followers follow them - we go where they go, we do what they do, we emulate them.  Or we can choose not to based on our priorities or the quality of their example (or lack thereof - cf Hebrews 13.7)(thus we also see multiple exhortations in Scripture for leaders to be excellent examples - cf 1Timothy 4.12, Titus 2.7, 1Peter 5.3, cf John 13.15).  But everybody - even the greatest of leaders - follows someone.  Everybody has at least one example, one influence.  Who would yours be?  Who should it be?

-Incidentally this verse makes a tremendous statement as to the importance of reading biography.  The annals and adventures of many generations of great heroes of the faith - men and women cut from the same imperfect bolt of cloth as we - have been preserved and passed down to us, not only in the pages of Scripture but in countless other volumes that record the events and details of their lives and provide us with invaluable insight and inspiration in our own pursuit of Christ (James 5.10, Hebrews 6.12).

-a few suggestions:

More can be found on this list here:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/16480.Best_Christian_Biography_Autobiography

Monday, April 27, 2015

Philippians 3:16 - Snacking on rubbish

"However, unto what we attained, to the same to be keeping in step.’

-As his readers are forgetting what lies behind, Paul doesn’t want them to do anything which might actually cause them to regress in their relationship with or service for Christ.  We are not paying for the same ground twice.  Beginning my obedience and pursuit again today as if I have done nothing for Christ does not mean that I abandon or forget the lessons He’s taught me or the great things He has done in and through me.  I do not ever reboot or reinstall my commitment level to that of some elementary beginner.

-Yes, we are called upward, and the bar is set high.  The standard for those who know and follow Christ is excellence - growing, overflowing, and beautiful (cf Philippians 1.10, Philippians 4.8, 1Thessalonians 4.1, 1Peter 2.12, 2Peter 1.1-8).  Make it your goal to passionately pursue excellence every day.  Love and practice and think about and meditate on and be absorbed in things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  If it is not excellent, don’t do it, don’t associate with it, don’t even think about it.  Don’t settle for things or behavior that are merely ok or are second rate.  Yes, sometimes even the good can be the enemy of what is best.  ‘There’s nothing wrong with it’ is an oft-used phrase to try and excuse involvement with things which may be permissible but which are not truly excellent, which are not morally or spiritually beautiful, which do not profit or build up (Romans 14.19, 1Corinthians 8.1, 1Corinthians 10.23, 1Corinthians 14.26, Ephesians 4.16, Ephesians 4.29, 1Thessalonians 5.11, Jude 20).  Worse yet is doing something iffy or questionable but which i think i can get away with.  Even if nobody sees or knows, God sees.  God knows.  And I know.  My soul knows it very well, and when I'm snacking on rubbish, I’m hurting myself as much as anyone.  Let’s stop. Munching. On. Manure.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Philippians 3:15 - The Perfect Paradox (of Perfection)


"Therefore, as many as [are] complete, may we be thinking this.  And if you are thinking something differently, also this God will reveal to you."

-Paul just said he does not consider himself as having completed the race or as being made perfect yet (Philippians 3.12), but now he addresses those who he says ARE perfect and includes himself in the group.  It is the exact same word - teleioi, and it means perfect or complete or mature.  Is this a contradiction?  Well, the root idea of the word means something which has in fact arrived at the end of something - a journey, a process of some sort.  Yes, those who follow Christ are on a journey, a marathon, called to be(come) holy and perfect (1Peter 1.15, 2Corinthians 7.1) - it is part of that high bar calling we talked about in Philippians 2.15 (cf Matthew 5.48).  And someday Christ-followers will be fully and finally transformed into the likeness of God’s perfection and glory.  But for now, there IS a perfection in this life which looks like having arrived at the place where you know that you have NOT yet arrived.  I am not perfect - far from it - and I am perfectly ok with that, but I’m not ok with that.  It is not fatalism or apathy or resigning myself to making no more progress towards gaining Christ.  I am content, but not complacent.  Each day is full of new opportunities to learn and grow, to pursue knowing and following and living like Jesus.  And so Paul is encouraging his readers to be thinking this way, to maintain the perspective that they have not finished the race.  He is addressing those who are mature/complete enough to know they have not yet arrived at their final destination.

-But there is another kind of perfection in this life, one where all those who are in Christ HAVE arrived at perfection because they are IN Christ.  Their identity and their position are actually those of Christ Himself because, as a result of their faith in Christ, God has justified them - declared them righteous such that now in His eyes they have done everything right (i.e. because they are in Christ).  It is possible that Paul here is simply addressing all believers, all those who have trusted Christ and who are therefore perfect in God’s eyes.  So we know that those who follow Christ ARE perfect, but they are not yet perfect and are in puruit of becoming perfect.  It is indeed a paradox, and it needs to be held in tension.  Suffice it to say that no matter what Paul is thinking as far as the nature of this perfection, he wants all who follow Christ to relax and enjoy the wonder of knowing Jesus and being right in God’s eyes but also follow and pursue Christ every day with such full devotion that they let nothing they have done in the past hinder them from pursuing knowing and gaining Christ to the fullest.  And thus in the end there is no contradiction whatsoever.  The only contradiction would be the life of one who claims to be following Jesus but who is not in full pursuit of knowing/gaining and making Him known.

-Paul adds a promise that God will show those who follow Jesus any area of their life or their thinking where they are not living fully into this mindset of doing their utmost to pursue and know and be like Jesus, where there might be anything from their past or in their present which might be hindering this pursuit in any way.  Of course, it is one thing for God to show us something.  It is another thing altogether for His people to pay attention and actually respond to that revelation.  May God give us ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts to understand and want and the strength of will to do what He wants...

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Philippians 3:13-14 - The New Jerusalem Marathon?

"Brothers, I am not counting myself to have seized, but one [thing], on the one hand the things behind forgetting, but on the other to the things ahead stretching forth, according to [the] goal I am pursuing unto the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’ 

-Paul has not arrived.  He as of yet has not achieved the goal nor seized the prize, this ultimate reason for which God has called him as well as for which He has called every Christ-follower.  And no, this perspective is not something just for Paul (cf Philippians 3.15, 1Corinthians 9.24, Colossians 3.1-2, 2Timothy 4.8, Hebrews 3.1, Hebrews 12.1-2).

-Indeed Paul is thus our example, and a good one at that.  He is in a race, and he’s still competing.  He describes his posture and attitude as that of a runner who is nearing the finish but hasn’t reached the finish line.  He is stretching out, leaning towards the line, he is almost there.  He is not focused on the distance he has traveled or the obstacles and hurdles he has cleared to get to this point.  Certainly the awareness of his good racing to this point gives him confidence and additional incentive to finish, but he knows that whatever he has done in the past will not carry him across the remaining distance.  What matters now is actually finishing and finishing well, focusing on the goal and exerting himself as best he can - with the power which God supplies of course - to cross the line and break the tape.

-Clearly, for Paul and for us, the goal and the prize is Jesus.  He is what lies ahead.  We can talk about heaven being what lies ahead, but only because that’s where Jesus is.  We fix our eyes on Him.  We direct our attention and every divinely-empowered effort to know Him, to follow Him and to become more like Him, to grow to love and enjoy and want Him more than anything or anyone, to live more and more into what He wants, to share in the experience of both His joys and His sufferings and ultimately to share in His resurrection and His glory.  And thus every day we are enjoying and maintaining and growing and living out our relationship of right standing which we have with Almighty God through Jesus.  And we are exerting ourselves to spread the fragrance and knowledge of Jesus Christ throughout the world, to help men and women and children in every nation know and follow Him and love Him.  Every day, this is the oportunity which lies before us.  We do not let the failures of yesterday deter us or slow us down.  We do not allow lesser or lower inducements to distract us from our ultimate objective.  We are running to finish and win the race.  We are running to gain Jesus.


-Consider the very nature of this heavenly call.  The call is ‘upward’ because it comes from above, from whence Christ came (John 8.23) and where He is now, seated at the right hand of Almighty God (Colssians 3.1-2).  The word is ano, meaning above.  It is the opposite of kato, meaning down or below, and which in this context refers to the world and to the things of this earth.  But just as our goal and our prize is not of this world, our calling is also not of this world.  God has called us FROM heaven, and He has called us TO heaven.  Our call did not originate from some ruler on earth down here below - no, it comes from God Himself, God above, God on high, the lofty Most High God Who inhabits the heavenly realms in inapproachable light and Who rules over all.  And He has called us to live there with Him as a member of His forever family.  His Son the Prince of Peace is now our brother and we are called to be like Him.  This call affects who we are and what we do.  It informs our past and our present as well as our future.  It’s a game-changer.  It changes us.  It changes everything.  And so we do press on, and we do not let the failures of yesterday deter us or slow us down.  We persevere through problems and pain because it brings us closer to our goal.  We do not allow lesser or lower inducements to distract us from our ultimate objective.  We are running to finish and win the race.  We are running to gain Jesus.  How's your race going?

Friday, April 24, 2015

Philippians 3:12 - Salvation + Perseverance = Salvation

"Not that already I received or already I am made perfect, but I am pursuing if even I should seize upon what also I was seized by Christ (Jesus)..."

-Paul has just shared a full list of lofty yet very core spiritual aspirations: gain Christ, be found with His righteousness, know Him, know the power of His resurrection, share in His sufferings, and be resurrected.  No problem.  However, much of the progress towards any of these will depend on personal cooperation and effort, and thus none of them are guaranteed to those who follow Christ, at least not in this life.  It should be clear that the NT authors are indeed wary of a spurious or empty faith that fizzles before the finish (cf Matthew 10.22, Matthew 24.13, Luke 8.12-15, Luke 21.19, Romans 2.6-7, Romans 8.17, 1Corinthians 9.24-27, Colossians 1.11, 2Timothy 2.12, Hebrews 3.12, Hebrews 10.36, James 1.3-4, James 2.26, Revelation 1.9).  Endurance.  Perseverance.  Suffice it to say, salvation and perseverance go hand in hand.  If you are truly having put your faith and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul, you WILL persevere until the end of your life or until Jesus returns, whichever comes first.  Because if this is the case, if you ARE really in Christ and inasmuch as God was the One Who in fact put you there, God Almighty has made you an entirely new creation.  Christ lives in you through His Spirit, never to leave (Hebrews 13.5).  You WILL endure whatever comes your way, whether suffering or hardship or loss or persecution.  Not that there won’t be temporary setbacks along the way, but generally speaking the course of your life will be up and in, closer to and more like Christ, daily putting on my spiritual running shoes and getting back out there again to pursue Christ and all that He has for me.  

-And to be sure, the very salvation (and Savior) I would pursue and seize (as it were) and the very perseverance which both shows and gains me that salvation go hand in hand with having been first seized by Christ Jesus Himself.  That is the order Paul gives us here.  He says he was seized (grabbed, grasped, caught, apprehended) - sometime in the past - by Christ.  And we have an idea of when Paul would say that took place - on the road to Damascus, when Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light and changed the course of his life (Acts 9.5).  Christ in fact had a clear plan for Saul-who-would-become-Paul, to carry His Name and Message to the Gentiles, to be a conduit of His love and power and blessing to those who knew nothing of the promises and blessings of the God of Abraham, and for Paul this would involve much suffering.  For all the rest of us who have likewise been seized by Christ, whether or not we go on to demonstrate resurrection power and share in Christ’s sufferings is another question, and depends to a large degree on how I run the race, on the extent to which I let go and go low and on the level of effort I put forth in actually pursuing Christ and towards seizing all that He has for me.


-But to Paul’s point, he says he hasn’t arrived yet.  He has not yet fully received salvation or his Savior, he has not finished the race nor has he been fully made perfect.  He has a long, long way to go.  As C.S. Lewis put it, relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.  Yesterday’s pursuit and dependence and obedience do not buy me any time off today.  Each and every day is a new opportunity to pursue Christ and what He wants for me, to love Him and trust Him and to rely on Him and become more like Him.  And this is what that warning in Hebrews 3.12 means, not that we would be believing yesterday and unbelieving today, but rather that we would stop pursuing today and thus reveal that I was not in fact believing yesterday.  We don’t want to find out that our heart is actually an unbelieving one.  And so we do work out our salvation - what God has worked in - with fear and trembling, every day.  Because we have not yet finished the race, we have not yet been made perfect.  We continue with a heart that is humble and contrite and obedient and repentant towards God and trusting in His forgiveness through the shed blood of Christ each and every day.  The pursuit, the race continues every day.  And it is never finished until we take our very last God-given breath.  Yes, we have a long way to go - but one day at a time.  Every race, every marathon is completed one step at a time.  Our job, like Paul before us, is to just press on.  Keep running.  Keep pursuing.  Get up tomorrow with a thankful and dependent and expectant heart.  And press on, up and in and closer to Jesus.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Philippians 3:11 - The Final Frontier

"...if somehow I should arrive unto the resurrection the (one) out of the dead." 

-Survival.  It is a French word, meaning ‘to live on.’  This was the daily battle for most of the world in Paul’s day, and continues to be so for much of the world today.  A race of survival, desperately trying to outrun death.  For us in the west, death is more of a phantom off in the distance, an afterthought - he's not catching up to us for a long time.  But hunger, disease, natural disaster - their constant presence still keeps the reality of death on center stage in much of the two-thirds world, just as it did in Paul’s day.  Death is mentioned more than 400 times in the NT alone.  In fact the words for death occur more frequently there than the words for life.  Back then life meant existing much more on the margins, a daily endeavor just to put food on the table and to survive.  Today most of us in the west are deceptively insulated from things like these that make death a constant companion, lurking around every corner.  In our present-day western civilization survival into old age is virtually guaranteed, death has been pushed into the further recesses of our minds, and we spend much more time thinking about vacation and recreation than we do death and resurrection.  We hide the horrors of dying behind botox and enbalming fluid, and we do our utmost to squeeze every last drop of life out of the here and now.

-And yet it lurks, even in the modern west.  There is no escape.  It creeps up and encroaches in the form of old age.  It leaps on the unsuspecting in the guise of terrible tragedy.  Much as we try and deny it and hide it and forestall the inevitable, death awaits us.  It is our common destiny, our common enemy.  We are all mortal, dying.  It is one inviolable rule of life in a fallen and broken world - sooner or later, everyone dies.  Death, the unpurposed unintended end of God’s glorious creation, entered in at the fall and began its reign - final and inescapable (Romans 5.12).  Until Jesus.  Christ defeated death.  He reversed the curse.  He rose from the dead, removed the power of death and now stands ready to abolish it forever (cf 1Corinthians 15.20-26).  He is giving life to the dead and the dying - this is the Good News, that all who die in Christ will live again, will live forever in the presence of their Creator, the Eternal God, the One Who made them for this, life as it was always intended.

-This is the hope of the resurrection, and this is what Paul is talking about.  As he longs to know Christ and gain Christ, part of that means entering into eternal life with Christ, life beyond compare or comprehension, life as it was always intended.  Life out of death.  Eternity out of finite finality.  And it was more on the mind of Paul perhaps because death was indeed his constant companion (cf Romans 7.24, Romans 8.36, 1Corinthians 4.9, 1Corinthians 15.31, 2Corinthians 1.9, 2Corinthians 6.9, 2Corinthians 11.23).  But he also was dying and desperate to be with Jesus.  How 'bout you and me?  Not that we should have a death wish, but how often do we even think about the resurrection, about the prospect of life after death and finally getting to be with Jesus forever?  We wouldn't expect this from someone who doesn't believe in Jesus, who hasn't come to know Him, but what of those of us who claim to follow Him, to believe in Him, to know Him?  Is He better to us, better than anything or anyone, better than life?  I would suggest that to the extent that we do not think about the resurrection and living forever with Jesus, we have not yet come to really know Him.  

-Kirk and Picard told us that space is the final frontier - the extreme limit of that which is known or has been explored - as they boldly went where no one had ever gone before.  Some suggest that death is the final frontier.  But no, when you stop and think about it - Jesus is the real Final Frontier.  Has any one ever really come to know and understand and appreciate all the infinite wonder and breathtaking goodness and lofty majesty of this One Who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, Who loved us and died for us and then rose again, Who reigns in heaven surrounded by mighty angels who cannot stop talking and singing about how amazingly awesome He is?  For one to do so would take a lifetime and then an eternity - one would have to live forever to even begin to tell about it...  Which is precisely the point.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Philippians 3:10 - Real faith

"...the to know Him and the power of His resurrection and sharing of His sufferings, being conformed to His death..."

-WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW CHRIST?  WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE, HOW DO WE DO THAT, AND WHY IS PAUL SO DESIROUS OF THAT?

-So Paul wants to gain Christ and be found with His righteousness, and here he clearly wants to know Christ and His power as well as His sufferings.  But don’t miss this - what Paul describes here in verse 10 is a description of faith, the faith to which he just referred twice in the previous verse, the kind of true and genuine faith which is in Christ and which is the only way to receive the righteousness of God.  So again, don’t miss this: real faith is relationship, AND real faith is power, AND real faith is suffering.

-Real faith is relationship, and that with Christ.  It is not just that I know or believe something about Christ.  Even Satan knows and believes things about Christ.  It is knowing Him personally, to which Paul referred in verse 8, a relationship which is more valuable than anything else this world might offer (Jeremiah 9.23-24, John 17.3, Ephesians 1.17, 2Peter 1.3).  This was Paul's point in Athens, a city full of idols (false gods) that could never be known - they were worshiping in ignorance what they could not ever know personally.  He wanted to introduce them to Somebody.  He wanted them to know about the One True God, yes, but he understood that faith is about a personal connection with our Creator God (Acts 17.23ff).

-Real faith is also power, the power of Almighty God Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them with a word.  The best most obvious example of God’s power at work for Paul was when God raised His Son from the dead, so that is why he mentions the resurrection here (cf Ephesians 1.20), but he is not thinking of power that is confined to an experience of resurrection, which of course would mean this power would only get to be displayed after my death.  No, if I truly have faith in Christ, God’s power can and should be manifested in and through my life all the time.  cf Ephesians 1.18-19, Luke 9.1, Acts 1.8, Acts 4.33, Acts 6.8, 1Corinthians 2.4, 1Corinthians 4.19-20, 2Corinthians 4.7, 2Corinthians 12.9, Ephesians 3.16, Ephesians 3.20-21, Colossians 1.11, Colossians 1.29, 2Thessalonians 1.11, 2Timothy 1.7.  Jesus told us quite clearly that those who follow Him would do even greater works than He Himself did (John 14.12).  This supernatural power manifesting in our lives is proof positive to a lost world that God is real, it is the unmistakeable sign that I actually do have a connection to the invisible Almighty God, and it shows off His breathtaking goodness.  BUT WHAT DOES POWER LOOK LIKE?  HOW DOES IT MANIFEST?  Signs and wonders?  Miracles?  Yes.  But it also looks like faithfulness - in the little things, when no one is looking.  Faithfulness to my spouse.  Devotion to God - ongoing, increasing.  It is kindness and goodness on display and serving others from the heart, for their benefit.  It is the growing absence of self.  It is patience and long-suffering.  It is incomprehensible peace and perseverance and endurance in the midst of trials and hardship and suffering.  Joy - it looks like inexpressible joy, and gratitude.  Worship.  It is saying no to temptation.  Self-control.  It is the strength to say I’m sorry and own my junk.  And as much as anything it is prayers being answered.  That was Jesus’ point in John 14.13 - greater works are the answers to believing prayer.

-How much power are we talking about?  Consider the power it takes to create and sustain billions upon billions of suns in which billions upon billions of nuclear bombs are exploding every second of every day without end.  Think about the power that is associated with the resurrection, of what it takes to actually produce life - glorious eternal life - where there is no longer any life.  This is the realm of the supernatural.  We’re talking limitless power.  We’re talking about incomparable power beyond comprehension or description, that goes far beyond our feeble ability to muster up a bit of obedience.  We’re talking about living into that which is humanly impossible.  Truly breathtaking glory, inexplicable fruitfulness, and that which one day, sooner or later, will rise above the inescapable law of corruption which otherwise will bring an end our life.  In place of a broken and dead jar of clay we will be given an incomparably glorious and perfect body in which we will live forever.  The kind of power which will bring all this about - Paul wants to see this power displayed in his life, not only in death but in life as well (1Corinthians 4.19-20)(he desires for other believers to know this reality as well - Ephesians 1.18-20). 

-But real faith is also suffering.  It will experience suffering (Acts 14.22, John 15.20, 2Timothy 3.12), and it will endure suffering (Romans 8.17, 2Corinthians 4.8-11).  Don’t miss this - the process of suffering and daily dying to self and what I want is what gradually forms and reveals the glorious life of Christ in and through my life.  Because my default position is to avoid suffering.  I want greener pastures and the warmth of the womb.  I want what I want when I want it, gosh darn it, and unfortunately there is very little in that that helps me to know and show off the One Who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.  His prayer to the Father was, ‘not what I want but what you want...’  Right after that He was betrayed, forsaken, beaten, ridiculed, flogged and crucified.  This is Who we follow.

-Right on the heels of saying that he wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, Paul adds that he actually wants to share in Christ’s sufferings.  Say what?  Why not just stick with power and don’t even mention the suffering thing?  And he’s not just talking about an attitude that hunkers down at the onset of unavoidable suffering (cf 1Peter 4.13, James 1.2), but rather almost a pursuit of suffering?  Who in their right mind would do that?  The reality is that at a certain level, power and suffering go hand in hand (cf 2Corinthians 12.9), and Paul had learned this.  God actually uses suffering to effect transformation (cf Romans 5.3-5).  Owing to the fact that we are actually powerless to begin with, being in situations that are beyond our perception of strength provides the perfect opportunity for God to perfect His power.  You want power?  Bring on helplessness.  Bring on the suffering.

-He also mentions being conformed to Christ’s death, which is not necessariily a death wish per se, but rather more a statement of a readiness to give his life for the cause of Christ and the intent to die to self in following Him, to have Christ’s same attitude of full commitment to humble himself and serve and obey to the fullest extent possible, even if it means that he loses his life in the process.


-Clearly, what passes for faith in modern Christendom is a far cry from the example Paul gives us of an obsessive, one who actually did find that incomparably precious pearl and had sold out in order to attain it.  Back in the day, Amy Grant dared call us a fat baby.  Keith Green described us as asleep in the light.  By comparison, the bloated and fractured western church frought with nominalism and easy-believism is innocuous and vacuous, tedious and tired, uninspiring, unexciting, uninteresting, and seemingly unnecessary.  Powerless to resist temptation, to save marriages, to love our neighbors and live for eternity, to really love and not forsake one another despite our differences, to sell out and all we have for the sake of the Kingdom, to live and look any differently than those who stand outside the Church wondering what all the fuss is about.  There are exceptions of course.  But that is why so many people are leaving the institutional church to join the ranks of the unaffiliated, not to mention why the masses are not crowding in.  There’s nothing to see here.  Just a bunch of folks with a creed and a tithe and a building and somewhere else they'd much rather be on Sunday morning.  Do we really want to know Jesus?  Are we sure?  Anyone can say they know Jesus and show up on Sunday.  Do we realize Who we are actually talking about?  Do we realize what’s at stake?  Much of what we do is so much window dressing, straightening pictures on the walls of burning houses.  Sadly, based on how I live much of my life, I have a long way to go... 

Monday, April 13, 2015

Philippians 3:9 - Relax. It is finished...

"And should be found in Him, not having my own righteousness the [one] out of law but rather the [one] through faith of Christ, the righteousness out of God upon the faith..."

-And so as Paul has left behind his pursuit of high standing within the Jewish religious system he has placed his hope for right standing with God entirely on faith in Christ, on being found in Christ, trusting in and following Him.  He wants more to be right in the sight of God than however he may be perceived by man.  And he is fully aware that the only way to be right with God is through faith in Christ, not through any attempt at obeying the law (Romans 3.28, Romans 4.5).  Of course the one who has put their faith in Christ in seeking to be right with God will as a result manifest a growing desire and ability to observe God’s law as found in His Word (cf Philippians 2.13).  But the more transformational truth here is that, having now put his trust in Christ and in Christ’s payment for his sins, he is now totally right in the sight of Almighty God having technically done not one iota of that law.  In God’s eyes, he has done everything right, justified by faith (Isaiah 53.11, Romans 5.1).  That’s what it means to be justified - declared right with God, just as if I’ve never sinned.  To be sure, if I haven’t done everything right in God’s eyes, I’m not ever gonna stand in the presence of thrice-holy Almighty God.  


-But try saying that - "in God’s eyes I’ve done everything right".  The degree to which I have difficulty saying that is the degree to which I am still trusting in works, still enslaved to the law.  I am holding on to the guilt and shame of my past and present sins, perhaps under the mistaken impression that there is something I must do to redeem myself.  And/or I am uncertain of my future performance, not fully confident that there is nothing I can ever do that will separate me from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ.  Or perhaps I am keenly aware that in order to be able to affirm that I have done everything right in God’s eyes, I must not only have avoided the sins of commission, esp the big ones, but I must also have not missed the mark vis a vis the sins of omission - thing like rejoicing always and praying without ceasing and giving thanks in everything and loving my neighbor as myself and loving the Lord with all my heart and soul.  Even the most minimally-aware spiritually-minded person will know that in our flesh we all whiff big-time on these sins of omission.  So to be able to say that in God’s eyes I’ve done everything right takes a huge leap of faith in this promise of being justified through faith.  Which is precisely the point.

-This idea of righteousness, having done everything right in God's eyes, means I am fully at peace with God and can rest, I can relax and breathe a huge sigh of relief.  I am free from having to work in order to satisfy the requirements of law, which really only results in sin and death. "He who has died is freed from sin...having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness...the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death...for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace...therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...'It is finished'...For the one who has entered God's rest has himself rested from all his works, as God did from His..." Romans 6.7, Romans 6.18, Romans 8.2, Romans 8.6, Romans 5.1, John 19.30, Hebrews 4.10

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Philippians 3:8 - He. Is. Better.

"But rather on the contrary even i am ruling all things to being loss because of the exceeding knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom all things i suffered loss, and am ruling them manure, in order that i should gain Christ."

-Jesus Christ is better.  He simply is better, better than anything or anyone.  He is the Pearl of great price, the treasure for which we sell all that we have in order that we might gain it (Matthew 13.45-46).  It is not knowledge about Christ - it is knowing Him.  If you don’t know Him, this will sound like utter foolishness, but that is because you have never met Him... Yet how does one ’know’ Someone whom you normally cannot see or hear?  How does one come to realize that this One is so much better than anything or anyone else as to inspire total abandonment of self?  It is coming to know Him along the journey of faith, thru the eyes and ears of the heart, getting to know Him thru the pages of Scripture and thru communion of the soul as we journey together the course of this life. 

-WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ACTUALLY GAIN CHRIST?  WHAT MIGHT THAT LOOK LIKE?

-We’re not just talking about head knowledge and a life of rote obedience and service.  there should be an element of really knowing Christ, knowing what He is like and what He wants and what pleases Him.  There will be communion and intimacy and the joy of being in relationship with Him.  for many in the church today, their relationship with Christ is like that of the lost son’s obedient-yet-spiritually-arid older brother.  He missed the joy of communion with his Father just as much as his prodigal brother did (Luke 15.25-30).

-Paul is using financial terms, yet he is in fact not talking about material wealth but rather those things which which do (or do not) count for eternity and recommend us to God Himself.  He is thinking about things that somehow would (or would not) provide us with spiritual advantage and better footing vis a vis a right standing with God.  But in the end Christ Himself will (should) actually supplant whatever other things we may have been seeking to acquire or accomplish or otherwise experience.  Compared to knowing and gaining Christ, anything and everything else is so much garbage, good only to be thrown out.  You throw it off and leave it behind in pursuit of knowing Christ and becoming more like Him.


-Note that there is a leaving behind, a counting all things loss and a letting go which precedes the joy of laying hold of Christ and the promises and blessings of God.  It has always been this way.  Abram had to leave behind his home and family in ur with no idea of where he was going.  Moses and Israel had to leave their homes in Egypt behind.  Peter and the disciples had to leave their families and homes and livelihoods behind.  All these let go of the familiar and the certain because they were hoping to gain something far better (Hebrews 11.16) - promises which they did not receive before their leaving and which in some cases never received in this lifetime (Hebrews 11.39).  But they believed that God was better, better by far than whatever they were leaving behind and letting go.  Remember however that faith is the conviction of THINGS NOT SEEN (Hebrews 11.1).  This is not something for the five physical senses.  You must believe in the absence of tactile or optical confirmation that God IS and that He IS a Rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11.6).  You don’t see the Heavenly Treasure with physical eyes but rather with the eyes of faith - you see this from a distance (Hebrews 11.13).  You draw near in your heart to the One in Whose presence is fullness of joy and in Whose right hand are pleasures forever (Psalm 16.11), and you taste and see how good He really is (Psalm 34.8).  You see Him Who is unseen (Hebrews 11.27) and pursue Him, following wherever He may lead.  Nech sa pači...

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Philippians 3:7 - When assets are liabilities...

"But rather whatever gains were to me, these i have ruled, because of the Christ, loss."

-The words Paul employs here are normally used in an economic sense of profit and loss.  The same words are used in Matthew 16.26 - what if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?  Similarly Paul here is referring to a sense of spiritual profit.  All the things he has just listed - anything that might have been a ‘gain’ for him, those which from a worldly perspective might be seen as padding his spiritual portfolio, spiritual assets so to speak - as far as he is concerned these things are collectively worth nothing.  In fact they are negatives - spiritual liabilities.  It is singular, actually - one big loss.  In essence the more a person has going for them in the flesh, the greater the potential degree of ‘loss’ and spiritual need.  Nothing that we are born with or acquire or attain or do can commend us to God - and especially not if we want Christ.  He is the only accepted currency for spiritual transacting.  Paul knew that, in and of himself, he was a nobody (2Corinthians 12.11, 2Corinthians 10.12), and he truly brought nothing to the table (1Corinthians 3.7).  He was a spiritual pauper, totally bankrupt.  It wasn’t just lip service for Paul - he really understood this truth deep down.  Whatever he was that was worth something to God was only because of Christ.  Who we are, what we are worth, is based solely on who and what we are in Christ.  All of Warren Buffet’s billions won’t buy him one ounce of favor with God.  But when you trust in Christ, you win the spiritual lottery!

-hegeomai is what a leader/ruler/governor does.  In this case we are talking about a decision such as might be made by a leader, a considered and deliberate judgment, externally-based, made on a careful weighing of facts.  It is not based on inner feeling or sentiment.  There are things which we might do or achieve or be born with that give us (and others?) occasion to compare us favorably with our fellow man, and it is definitely a constant temptation to take credit for or to put stock in these things, or to mistakenly assume that they could somehow commend us to God.  Paul had deliberately chosen to not do this.  The verb is in the perfect tense, which means that at some point in the past, Paul made a decisive choice to categorize all of his worldly assets as one big loss.  The results of that decision carried into his present, and no doubt he found occasion to have to continue to choose to base his identity and worth not on what the world would say is important but on his identity in Christ. 

-Anything and everything we might have going for us or might want to have going for us is found in Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Philippians 3:4-6 - The best religious long jumper ever?

"Though I myself having confidence, even in flesh.  If any other is supposing to have put confidence in flesh, I [have] more.  Eighth day circumcision, out of stock of Israel, of tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew out of Hebrews, according to law a Pharisee, according to zeal - persecuting the church, according to righteousness the [one] in law - having come to be blameless."

-Nobody who aspires to be right with God and truly follow Christ ever has any ground for boasting about anything they have done or which is true about them as providing them with right standing with God.  It is tantamount to trying to jump across the Grand Canyon.  Nobody can do it (certainly not without some kind of outside assistance).  Some olympic long-jumpers may jump further than the rest of us, but even they would fall short.  Needless to say, there wouldn't be anybody boasting at the bottom about how far they may have gotten.  Similarly when it comes to reaching God, nobody can even get close on their own (Romans 3.23), so there is no boasting about how good we are in a religious sense.   Paul states that he would have far more reason to do so if anyone did.  He’s already told us that nobody who follows Christ puts any stock in anything they have done or who they might be.  But to exaggerate his point, he proceeds to list the things he had done and had going for him as part of his impeccable spiritual resumé.  Anyone who might be tempted to trust in their deeds or identity will need to conclude that since even Paul’s great resumé didn’t gain him any connection or favor with God, theirs won’t ever merit them anything either.

-Paul’s spiritual pedigree is indeed impressive.  He belonged not only to God’s chosen people by birth and covenant, but he was from one of the two more reputable tribes (the other being Judah - these two southern tribes alone had remained loyal to the kingly line of David after the reign of Solomon - cf 1Kings 12.21, 2Chronicles 15.8-9, 2Chronicles 25.5, 2Chronicles 31.1).  The other ten northern tribes additionally had been conquered by the Assyrians who dispersed them and forced them to intermarry with other peoples (thus contaminating their bloodlines), whereas Judah and Benjamin had survived their later subjegation to the Babylonians with their bloodlines largely intact and untainted (cf Ezekiel 1.5, Ezekiel 4.1, Nehemiah 11.4).

-He was also a Pharisee, so he belonged to what was arguably the superior sect of those who in that day strictly observed and enforced the religious regulations of the jewish people.  Paul in fact laid claim to being an exemplary Pharisee (Acts 22.3, Acts 26.5, Acts 23.6, Galatians 1.14).

-Not only did Paul have an impressive resumé, but his character was also exemplary.  He observed the law of Moses as perfectly as was humanly possible, and he displayed unsurpassed zeal on behalf of his religion.  The word is zélos, which gives us our english word zealous, as well as jealous.  It means great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.  The root idea is to be heated or boiling with regards to something or someone, resulting in significant focus and expenditure of mental and physical effort on behalf of that person or thing.  Paul's zeal was perhaps unrivaled - he was so hot spiritually that he was pursuing those he thought were enemies of God in order to put them in prison (Acts 8.3, Acts 22.4-5, Acts 26.9-11).  God, in fact, is a zealous, jealous God (Isaiah 9.7, Exodus 20.5, Deuteronomy 4.24, Ezekiel 39.25) and He greatly desires this quality in His people, albeit directed towards Him (cf Numbers 25.11, Revelation 3.19, John 2.17, Titus 2.14).  HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE?  HOW HOT ARE YOU FOR GOD AND FOR THE THINGS OF GOD?  WHAT ARE YOU PURSUING FOR JESUS’ SAKE? 

-No need to be 'saved' - the Apostle Paul as Saul would have seen no need for a savior. He could 'save' himself. He thought that based on his own works according to the law of Moses that he was alright, all-right, in perfectly good standing with God. So his life-changing encounter on the road to Damascus was with the person of Jesus. Jesus arrested him, quite literally stopped him in his tracks. Saul came face to face with Messiah, One Who had suffered and died for him and Who now reigned on high as Lord and King. Saul’s feeble fleshy attempts at making himself right with a holy God dissolved in an instant, and though he was now blinded, he saw clearly - for the first time - that indeed all his best efforts to make himself right with God and clean in His sight were nothing more that filthy rags... (Isaiah 64.6)(akin to used tampons, to be precise, cf Leviticus 15.19-24, Ezekiel 36.17).

-In the end, there is nothing we can do in the flesh that can commend us to God or make us right with Him, nothing whatsoever we can do to earn His acceptance or His love.  These are free gifts of grace.  Showing up at the church or home group, reading the Bible and praying, rituals like baptism and communion, giving away my money and my time - all of these are good things to do, but they do nothing to make me right with God or to make God love me any more than He already does.  If you or I think that somehow God might be more inclined to love me or accept me because of something we have done, then we are putting confidence in our flesh as opposed to Jesus.  This is the true essence of all religion - man trying to work his way back towards God, vainly striving to earn right standing with his Maker.  But the only ground I can stand on in the presence of a holy, holy God is that which is covered with the blood of His Son.  It is all about Jesus.  And this is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions.

-No doubt there is some strategic insight for Christ-followers to glean here as to how to approach the work of evangelism.  We need to point people not to a creed or a building or a program but rather to a Person.  We need to introduce them to Jesus.  They need to trust in Him, and He will make them right with God.  And the better we know Him, the better we are able to help others get to know Him.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Philippians 3:3 - Divine surgery

"For we are the circumcision, the [ones] serving in [the] Spirit of God and boasting in Christ Jesus and not in flesh having put confidence..." 

-And so, contrary to what would have been popular Jewish opinion in that day, Paul states that in fact those who are boasting in Christ Jesus and who are serving and worshipping in the Spirit (John 4.23-24) are the real circumcision, the ones who are truly God’s people who are right with Him.  Paul is stressing a divine circumcision of the heart, not one of the flesh performed by human hands (cf Jeremiah 4.4, Jeremiah 9.25, Romans 2.28-29, Romans 3.30, Romans 4.9-12, Galatians 5.6, Galatians 6.15, Colossians 2.11).  Thus connecting with God is not about what you have done, nor is it about where you do it.  Those who worship and serve God 'in the Spirit' are not confined to worship in one particular place or facing a specific direction (John 4.21).  Your heart becomes the temple and the altar of worship.  Having the indwelling Spirit also means that we actually know this One Whom we worship, we have a personal relationship with Him (John 4.22).  Only the heart regenerated by the Spirit of Christ is able to cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ (i.e. ‘Daddy’ cf Romans 8.15), as opposed to trying to relate to some distant, impersonal or unknown deity.  That lot tragically falls to the mass of fallen humanity, separated from Christ by their sins and estranged from this One Who so loves them and made them to have a personal relationship with Him (cf John 17.3).  Who will go and tell them, Paul pleads (Roman 10.14-15)?  Those who put their trust in Christ later in life no doubt can remember this transformation in your prayers, where you became aware that you suddenly did find yourself able to converse with God on a personal level.  Now you had this clear heart-sense that you really knew Him, whereas before you did not...

-Not only do we worship in the Spirit - we glory, or boast, in Christ Jesus.  There is no other Name under heaven by which we can be saved.  He is the Way and the Truth and the Life - no one comes to the Father apart from Him.  Jesus is the One Who gives us whatever notion we have about how good we are in God’s eyes and whatever confidence we have before Him - not Abraham, not Moses, not Mohammed nor any other supposed prophet - there is no name we can name or claim or follow that will help us stand in the presence of Almighty God except Jesus.

-And so we also do not put any faith in ourselves or in anything we might be able to do to make us good in God’s eyes or to enable us to stand in before Him.  For his part, Paul is not letting himself be persuaded of anything by his flesh, by things he has done or by his ancestry or other things which are true of him in a worldly sense.  He is not putting any stock or trust or confidence in these as meriting him any greater access to or acceptance by God.  When all is said and done, his and our only ground for boasting in life or in things pertaining to God is Jesus.  It is not who  am or where I am or what I have done or haven’t done.  When I kneel before the throne of heaven the only way I am (or one day will be) able to do so is because the floor on which I kneel is covered with the blood of Jesus.  It’s His blood, His finished work on the Cross, His resurrection and righteousness.  He alone accomplished my freedom, my forgiveness, my salvation.  I did nothing.  I am nothing apart from Christ.  But in Him, I am a child of God forever.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Philippians 3:2 - A motley crew...

"Be watching [out for] the dogs, be watching [out for] the evil workers, be watching [out for] the false circumcision..." 


-A motley crew, this.  ‘The dogs’ here are not the domesticated divas of the modern western home.  The imagery is bands of vicous unchecked canines who roamed the streets of the oriental world (cf Psalm 22.16, Psalm 59.6) - in this sense Paul is specifically referring to Judaizers, those nominal converts to Christianity who insisted that entrance to Christ’s kingdom could only be gained thru strict Judaism (cf Acts 15.1).  Thus these were evil workers indeed.  ’False circumcision’ is katatomé.  Only used here in the NT, it means a cutting towards, as opposed to peritomé, meaning a cutting around and usually translated as 'circumcision'.  Strict Judaism maintained that to be a good Jew, one who in man’s eyes was good in God’s eyes, one needed to be circumcised, and then keep the Law of Moses (act 15.5).  And better by far if you were a bonafide descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a son or daughter of Israel.  In the beginning circumcision was more of a cultural delineator, in that it marked out who were God’s chosen people.  But after Moses (and ultimately) the covenant of circumcision devolved into a system of works, and it tapped in to fallen man’s instinctive impulse to try and work his way into a right standing with his Creator.  Like the Judaizers, there have always been those who will devise or distort religious systems which purport to be paths towards achieving or maintaining right standing with God, but in the end they are false and misleading approaches which steer a person astray from true righteousness, that which is attained by simple faith in and devotion to Christ (2Corinthians 11.3).  Paul gives strenuous warnings to watch out for these people (cf Galatians 1.8-9, Titus 1.10), and he repeats himself three times here just to emphasize that point.  Those who follow Jesus need to be on the lookout against anyone who would somehow be advocating that we need to DO something, that there is ANYTHING we can do that can earn God’s love and acceptance.  There is no good work we can perform which will do that (Galatians 2.16, Ephesians 2.8-9, Romans 3.20, Romans 3.28, Romans 4.6) - salvation and forgiveness and right standing with God are a free gift bestowed entirely by grace through faith.  God went to great lengths to reinforce this truth to the early Church (cf Acts 15.7-11, all of Acts 10.1-11.17, esp Acts 10.44-47) - it is not about who you are or where you are or what you do - and since our instinctive impulse IS to try and earn His favor, we must be extra vigilant not to get caught up in any system of works and to not let anyone at all influence us in that direction.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Philippians 3:1 - The Joy Soapbox

"The rest, my brothers, be rejoicing in [the] Lord.  the same [things] to be writing to you all on the one hand to me [is] not bothersome, but to you on the other hand [is] a security." 

-This, the 12th of 16 mentions of joy in this short letter, the 3rd of 5 imperatives to rejoice, so yes Paul is indeed repeating himself.  Definitely on a joy soapbox.  And truth be told, the entire New Testament and Jesus Himself are on a joy soapbox.  Joy is the mark of those who truly follow Christ, even and especially when things go wrong.  Our joy is not like anything the world has or can experience.  They need good circumstances or substances in order to just be happy, but the joy of the one who has Jesus and knows He died for them, who knows the grace of God and who in God’s eyes has done everything right, who is assured of eternal life and of the everlasting love of their heavenly Father for them, who is free from the weight of guilt and shame - this joy is other-worldly, it is constant and enduring, it is overflowing and full of glorious hope.  Esp. because Sunday’s on the way!  Look at John 15.11, John 16.22, Galatians 5.22, Acts 5.41, Acts 13.52, 2Corinthians 1.24, 2Corinthians 6.10, 2Corinthians 7.4, 2Corinthians 8.2, 1Thessalonians 5.16, James 1.2, 1Peter 1.6-8, 1Peter 4.13, Psalm 118.24, Psalm 98.4, Psalm 95.1, Psalm 96 11-12, Psalm 89.11, Psalm 84.2, Psalm 43.4, Psalm 30.5, Psalm 16.11.  Remember - God is a party waiting to happen!  In fact, He’s not even waiting - there is no describing the joy in heaven, in the presence of God and in God Himself (cf Luke 15.32, Luke 15.10, Matthew 25.21, Zephaniah 3.17). 

-Not only because Epaphroditus had now come home to them in good health, but for the reasons already mentioned in Philippians 2.14-18, and for any and every other reason, Paul tells them again to be rejoicing.  We have already seen that Paul is full of joy and that despite unpleasant and uncomfortable circumstances (remember, he is in chains under house arrest).  He has joy simply because of Jesus (Philippians 1.23), he has joy also because Jesus is being made known as a result of his circumstances (Philippians 1.18), and he has more joy because these Philippian believers are following Jesus and making Him known (Philippians 1.4, Philippians 2.2, Philippians 2.17, Philippians 4.1).  He has stated that his goal for them is joy (Philippians 1.25).  We have seen that joy in not only a pervasive theme of this letter, it is an overriding characteristic of the Christian life.  Only love gets a higher billing.  So the question is, what am I allowing to deprive me of inexpressible and glorious joy these days?

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Philippians 2:29-30 - Lives at risk. Or not...

"Therefore be receiving him in [the] Lord with all joy and be having such [ones] in honor, because through the work of Christ he came near as far as death having risked the soul, in order that he should fill up the lack of you of ministry toward me." 

-We’re going to consider verses 29-30 together since they form one complete unified thought.  The fact is that Epaphroditus literally risked his life for the work of Christ.  For this, Paul says, he is to be held in high regard, he is to be received and treated with honor, as are all those who risk their lives for the work of Christ.  They may or may not be literally martyred, but in a very real sense all who choose to follow Christ do become His martyrs, His witnesses (Acts 1.8).  And while death is definitely risky in a temporal sense, this death-to-self which may or may not also entail physical death or danger is actually accompanied by a greater reward (Matthew 5.12) - there is no ultimate risk to fully follow even unto death the One Who Himself eventually paid the ultimate temporal price.


-Risk actually is a mostly unknown commodity in the bloated uber-comfortable western church.  We know relatively nothing of risk.  Oh, we know how to put our portfolios at risk.  We perhaps put our reputations at risk when we involve ourselves with religious activities or espouse what would be construed by some as a 'politically incorrect' doctrinal position, and can subsequently acquire the label of ‘religious person’ or ‘intolerant’, but in the grand scheme of things there is very little lost and sadly very little gained as it relates to the progress of the Gospel.  We risk exposing ourselves to something unwelcome or unpleasant, but there is no exposure to real danger.  Can’t do that, that would be foolish (I jest of course)(1Corinthians 1.18 - if the Word of the Cross is foolish, how much more the work...?).

-Many of us in the west who name the Name of Christ have decided we could never cross an ocean or a border in order to help spread His Name among another people where those who follow Christ really need outside help to build His Church or where there are few or none who truly follow Christ (especially if going might involve ‘raising support’).  Too risky.  Too uncomfortable.  We can be just as reluctant to talk with our own neighbors about Christ for fear of really putting our relationship and reputation at risk.  That would be most unpleasant.  But truth be told, even in these situations, we are in no real danger, our lives are not at stake.  Epaphroditus almost lost his life.  And through the centuries countless Christ-followers have similarly put their very lives on the line in order to help others follow Christ, not to mention risking death to simply follow Him themselves.  These ones, Paul says, are to be held in high regard.  We need to honor them.  How might you (and I) be able to do that...?